KEY POINTS:
Johnny saw this sign on a possibly malfunctioning drink-vending machine at a Hamilton building supplies yard.
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Helen's brother, visiting their elderly mother in a small Taranaki town, rang Sky and organised the replacement of her Sky remote as it appeared her 12-year-old one had stopped working. She went on holiday for a week but on her return there was no sign on the remote control. Sky said a new remote had been sent - but to the postal address on the account, not the address where the Sky service is delivered to. A simple enough mistake, says Helen, but she lives in London. And sure enough, she got the remote in the mail, she says - "posted from New Plymouth - about 35km from where it should have been sent".
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So much for the great communication age!" exclaims Julie Utting. "We just spent three weeks on a boat with two other boats at Great Barrier Island, all armed with Telecom cellphones to keep in contact with family friends and businesses, only to find there is no Telecom coverage over there at all! We were even reported missing to Coastguard by a family member who was worried about the lack of communication. My advice to the 1400 or so boaties who spend their Christmas holidays at Great Barrier - take Vodafone, it works great..."
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Hollywood hit by credit crunch: The TV and film industries are cutting back not only their production budgets, but also the lavishness of their storylines, reports the Daily Express. "Ratings-hungry producers realise their audiences don't have so much interest now in watching rich characters fritter away their money while they can barely afford the electricity bill. That's why there are storylines like Gabrielle in Desperate Housewives falling into dire straits financially." But thanks to iron-clad contracts, celebrities like star Eva Longoria - who gets $380,000 an episode - won't suffer too much.
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Update: Gold Coast police have arrested one of the teenagers who got takeaways delivered to the site of a crash that killed an elderly man. Witnesses said the five teen occupants of the other car stood on the footpath as the 82-year-old lay dying in his mangled van, then had food delivered to them while officials cleared the scene. One teen now faces several related charges, including dangerous driving causing death, reports the Gold Coast Bulletin.
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Today's Webpick: One tourist boat collides with another. No time to steer out of the way, but plenty of time to capture the crash on video. Watch them here.
These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.
